Australian Market Slips To Modest Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is slipping to modest losses in mid-market moves on Thursday after opening in the green, reversing the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,850 level, with weakness in mining and energy stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 20.70 points or 0.23 percent to 8,820.40, after touching a high of 8,856.20 and a low of 8,808.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 17.70 points or 0.20 percent to 9,016.90. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 3 percent, Mineral Resources is tumbling almost 6 percent, Rio Tinto is down more than 1 percent and Fortescue is declining almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 2 percent and Beach energy is edging down 0.3 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are down almost 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Appen is slipping almost 1 percent and Zip is down almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 3 percent and Xero is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding more than 1 percent. Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among gold miners, Newmont is edging down 0.4 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent, Evolution Mining is losing almost 3 percent and Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent, while Genesis Minerals is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.699 on Thursday.